I love my garden.
My plants are my little green, growing, children. They're all squished together in a long narrow strip of a plot in front of my townhouse. It used to be a lawn, but soon after moving in, I lasagna-ed the lawn and planted perennials: black-eyed susans, comfrey, lemondrop primroses, bee balm, echinacea, multi-colored lilies, the list goes on. Silver lining to living at the bottom of a hill: the runoff from the road (and all those nice petrochemicals!) finds its way into my garden, fertilizing and moistening the soil (note: I don't plant edibles there!). So the plants have become very contented in their little portions, and are happy to be propagated year after year, squishing their neighbors on all sides.
My plants are my little green, growing, children. They're all squished together in a long narrow strip of a plot in front of my townhouse. It used to be a lawn, but soon after moving in, I lasagna-ed the lawn and planted perennials: black-eyed susans, comfrey, lemondrop primroses, bee balm, echinacea, multi-colored lilies, the list goes on. Silver lining to living at the bottom of a hill: the runoff from the road (and all those nice petrochemicals!) finds its way into my garden, fertilizing and moistening the soil (note: I don't plant edibles there!). So the plants have become very contented in their little portions, and are happy to be propagated year after year, squishing their neighbors on all sides.
Thus my annual perennial plant sale (yearly sale of perennials, not annuals)! Come mid-March you'll find me searching for the early-risers -- plants that emerge from their winter's slumber the soonest. Then starts the process of dividing them, and potting up the offspring. This year, by early April, I had potted over 450 little plantlets, ready for my annual perennial sale.
I set a date, decide on a nonprofit with which to share my earnings, craft some posters, and the ads get posted (Facebook, Nextdoor, Craigslist) and off we go! The sale happens in 4 phases. Phase 1 happens on a Saturday, early in April. The plants are all nicely set out on my driveway. I put out towers of the boxes I've been saving all year. People come that morning, gather up their favorites, and pay for their booty. This year, I've allocated 25% of sales to Doctors Without Borders. Sharing with a service organization, makes us all happy. It brings in people who might otherwise not be bothered, and it makes us all feel like we're doing more than loving plants.
Phase 2 starts the day after. The posters are modified: Perennial Plant Sale - Extended! This time I don't include the address; people have to message me to set a time to come shop. The nice thing about this phase is that I have more time to spend with each customer, asking what they're looking for, making suggestions of plants that might work with their particular landscape. I am by nature a friendly, inquisitive person, so these sorts of connections make me feel sparkly.
After about a week, we go to Phase 3 - Serve Yourself and Pay What You Want. Posters and ads are adjusted accordingly. This phase can be less personal because people can come whenever they want (even if I'm not there), but the option to pay whatever you want is always enticing! I find that people are usually quite generous, knowing that a portion of their payment is going to a good cause. This phase lasts about a week and by the end, there's not much left.
Phase 4 is the final phase: come and get it for free! Free stuff always makes people happy! And having the free things growing in your garden, showing up after winter's bleakness year after year is a gift that keeps on giving!
After about a week, we go to Phase 3 - Serve Yourself and Pay What You Want. Posters and ads are adjusted accordingly. This phase can be less personal because people can come whenever they want (even if I'm not there), but the option to pay whatever you want is always enticing! I find that people are usually quite generous, knowing that a portion of their payment is going to a good cause. This phase lasts about a week and by the end, there's not much left.
Phase 4 is the final phase: come and get it for free! Free stuff always makes people happy! And having the free things growing in your garden, showing up after winter's bleakness year after year is a gift that keeps on giving!
When it's all over, I experience so much satisfaction. Not only have I enjoyed getting my hands dirty getting up close and personal with my plants, I have revitalized my garden by giving them all some breathing room. And I've shared the gift of green growing things with my neighbors. I've created opportunities for meaningful connections among strangers. Unlike the impersonal experience of buying things from a store staffed by busy salespeople, the act of inviting people to my home to share the bounty of my lovingly tended garden, while learning about the ways they each tend theirs, opens a path of connection and sharing that I believe is crucial in these challenging times. All of the conversations over the course of these 3 weeks engendered so much goodwill and gratitude, moments to enjoy some of the fundamental gifts of being human. Yay for Spring and coming out of hibernation! Making the $200 donation to Doctors Without Borders was the icing on the cake!
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